


His Cherokee Rose

by Kitsune_Akumu



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-09-26 02:01:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9856925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Akumu/pseuds/Kitsune_Akumu
Summary: This story follows the TV series, although there may be a few minor changes to the story line. I will be using my own ending for the story just because this is still an ongoing TV show and I have no idea when it may actually end. With that being said, please enjoy the story and post a comment if you want to tell me what you think. New chapters will be posted every weekend. If anyone would like to follow my status on writing and updates or even make requests for future projects, you can follow me on Facebook by searching @Kitsune.Akumu





	1. Chapter 1

Esme cringed as the Georgia sun warmed her dark hair, slightly burning her scalp. They were in a clearing, surrounded by trees, but that didn’t seem to stop the suns scorching rays from hitting the camp. She could feel the sweat trickling down her neck. This is what life was now. Surviving day to day in the woods. Esme looked around at the group she had come to live with. She felt like an outsider at times looking through a window into the house of a family home. Most of these people had lived in the same town together, but she had travelled here. Not many of them knew much about her. The women often included her in their conversations as they worked together, cooking and cleaning for the men in camp.

Esme was pulled from her thoughts by Sophia calling her name, “Esme! Mom sent me to get you, they’re going to the quarry to wash clothes.”

She smiled at her “Okay, I’m right behind you.”

Life wasn’t too much different for her now than it was then, except for the continuous possibility of being ripped apart and eaten alive by the walking dead. Esme walked with Sophia to their usual group to help carry the laundry. Their group consisted of Andrea, Amy, Carol, and Jacqui. She knew most of their histories since they spent a lot of time together. Normally they would talk about what their lives were like, and things they would do before everything happened. Amy and Andrea talked about spending time with their dad mostly. Carol didn’t talk much out of fear of her husband Ed. Everyone knew he was abusive towards her, but he still tried to hide it and play it off as other things. She would always go to bed in their tent and come out the following morning with fresh bruises. Ed would often follow them to the quarry and watch Carol to make sure she didn’t talk too much. When the conversations would get good she couldn’t stop herself from joining in or laughing.

They were washing the clothes in the quarry when Jacqui started the conversation, “Can someone explain to me how women ended up doing all of the mundane daily work?”

Amy answered her, “The world ended, didn’t you get the memo?”

Carol looked back towards the car at Ed sitting on the back smoking a cigarette. “It’s just the way it is.”

The other women gave her a confused look so Esme decided to help her out, “This is normal for me.”

Andrea decided to question her, “What do you mean this is normal? Washing everyone’s clothes or washing them in a quarry?”

The other girls laughed a little at her question but Esme decided to take it more seriously. Maybe it was time she started telling them more about herself. If they knew more about her and her past, then maybe Daryl and Merle would stop trying to make everyone suspicious of her. The people at the camp knew she was a gypsy but she didn’t think they quite understood what that meant, and it didn’t help that Merle was always criticizing her and referring to her as a gypsy thief. “Y’all already know I’m a gypsy but I don’t think I ever told you anything about what that was.” She could tell she had their attention as they started slowing down on their work and payed closer attention to her. “Contrary to what dumb and dumber are trying to make you believe about me, we’re not thieves or whores or anything like that. Being a gypsy is about respecting yourself and your family. Our traditions are that the men are the workers and providers for the family while the women cook and clean. We have to raise the children and take care of our men so they’re able to work for us. That may seem medieval to most of you but that’s how we are. We travel across the country so our men can find work to provide for us.”

Andrea seemed the most appalled out of all of them. “So, your telling me that in your culture you basically have no say in what you do? You just have to take care of your kids and husband your entire life? Doesn’t that seem a bit discriminating?”

 “Well in a way yes but you must understand how much power that actually gives to the women. We aren’t just equal partners in a marriage. We are so much more than that. Our men treasure us as if we were priceless and rare. They pamper us so that we can be happy at home and will want to stay at home.”

Carol seemed to take in this information the most as she was lost in thought, “Sounds nice to be treasured like that.”

They continued washing the clothes as the conversation shifted to a different subject started by Carol. “I do miss my Maytech.” Everyone started talking about things they missed having back home ranging from computers to coffee makers. The next thing Andrea said had Esme blushing slightly.

“I miss my vibrator.”

Carol looked back slightly to make sure Ed wasn’t listening as the other women giggled slightly, “Me too.” This caused all of the women except Esme to start laughing uncontrollably and loudly.

As the laughing calmed slightly Esme happened to look up past Jacqui and noticed Ed walking casually down toward them. “Uh oh.”

The other women slowed their washing as they tried to understand what she was talking about. Carol’s eyes grew wide when she heard his voice, “What’s so funny?”

Andrea tried to keep the mood friendly, “Just swapping war stories Ed.”

That didn’t seem to be a good enough reason for their laughter as he continued to walk over to them and watch over them like a hawk, slowly making his way towards Carol.

Andrea again decided to be the one to speak to him, “Problem Ed?”

“None that concerns you.” Andrea turned back towards the water as if she couldn’t believe his answer. Ed was always like this though. He had no friends in camp and as far as he was concerned if he had control over Carol he didn’t need anyone else around. “You ought to be focusing on your work. This ain’t no comedy club.”

Esme could feel the situation getting worse as Andrea shared a disgusted look between the other girls. Carol focused on the laundry, terrified to look up. Esme felt sorry for her but inside she was also afraid. Why wouldn’t he go sit back where he was. The longer he stood watch over them the more uneasy she felt, as if they were prisoners to him. Slaves that he had to watch over to make sure they didn’t run away.

He lit another cigarette as Andrea grew tired of his presence. She stood up and walked over to Ed, still holding the shirt she was washing in her hand. “Ed, tell you what. You don’t like how your laundry’s done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself.” With that she threw the wet shirt at him, “Here.”

Without even so much as blinking he threw the shirt back at her, catching her under her chin. “It ain’t my job missy.”

Amy tried to calm Andrea, knowing what Ed was capable of, “Andrea don’t!”

Andrea was beyond reasoning at this point, “What is your job Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?”

“Sure as hell ain’t listening to some uppity smart mouth bitch. I tell you what.” He turned his gaze on Carol, “Come on! Let’s go.”

Out of reflex she stood from her spot to go to him before Andrea stopped her, “I don’t think she needs to go anywhere with you Ed.”

“I say it’s none of your business.” He continued to speak to Carol, “Come on now, you heard me.”

They all stood around Carol as she slowly tried to walk to him, begging Andrea to stop.

Ed seemed to be even more irritated at what Andrea had caused, “Hey! Don’t think I won’t knock you on your ass just cause you’re some college educated coos. Alright?”

Andrea seemed mortified at Ed’s bold threats as he continued to order Carol, “Now you come on now, or you gonna regret it later.”

That seemed to strike a nerve with Jacqui, “So she can show up with fresh bruises later Ed?” He started to chuckle in an irritated manner, “Yea, we’ve seen them.”

“You stay out of this.” He yelled at Carol for the final time, “Now you come on!” She slowly marched to him with her head down as he continued to poke the rest of the women, “This ain’t none of y’alls business. Y’all gonna keep prodding the bull here okay? Now I am done talking!” He grabbed Carol’s arm and began pulling her, “Come on!”

Andrea grabbed Carol’s arm as well, “No!” All of them began circling Carol as Amy and Andrea continued telling Carol she didn’t have to leave.

Ed had finally had enough, “You don’t tell me what! I tell you what!” As quickly as the words left his mouth he raised his hand and slapped Carol across the face. Andrea began pushing Ed as Amy and Esme caught Carol as she recoiled back from the strike. Amy passed her off to Esme, and she held her close as the other women attempted to attack Ed and push him back away from Carol.

Out of nowhere Shane jerked Ed out of the group of women and threw him to the ground. Esme kept her arms around Carol as she turned her face to watch what Shane was doing. She cried loudly as the other women circled around the front of them to watch as well.

Shane began punching Ed repeatedly in the face until blood covered half of his face from his eye and nose. Ed was beginning to lose consciousness as the other women began calling out to him to stop. Carol weakly begged Shane to stop through her tears. Finally, he stopped to speak to Ed in a menacing tone, “Put your hands to your wife, your little girl, or anyone else in this camp I will not stop next time do you hear me? Do you hear me!? I’ll beat you to death Ed.” With one final strike, he finally stood up and walked past them back to camp.

Carol rushed over to Ed, begging him to forgive her and saying how sorry she was. Soon Ed regained enough consciousness to push her away before standing and slowly walking back to the camp, mumbling for her to finish her to work and stay away from him.

As he wandered off Carol slowly stood back up and walked back over to the other women to finish the laundry. Esme could see her body shaking slightly as she tried to stop her sobs and regulate her breathing once more. Esme gingerly reached over towards her face and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. She smiled slightly, “Thank you.” Esme nodded and smiled back at her. This experience seemed to bring her closer to them and for a second she felt like she could belong with them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Andrea’s voice, “Esme?”

“Yea?”

“I’m sorry if our conversation embarrassed you earlier.”

Now she had drawn everyone’s attention back to them, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on. I saw you blushing earlier when I mentioned my vibrator. I know I can get a little too personal at times but we were having fun.” Esme could feel the familiar tingle from earlier as her face warmed once more. “See? You’re doing it now.”

“It’s not because of you Andrea, it’s the thing you keep talking about.”

Now she seemed really confused, “A vibrator?”

She looked down at the piece of clothing she was washing, “Yea that.”

“What’s wrong, you’ve never had a vibrator before?”

Esme shook her head as she realized her voice had disappeared. Jacqui was really interested now, “You must have had one hell of a man if you didn’t need one.” This made all the other women start laughing again which made her face even warmer. Esme shook her head again which had them all puzzled. “Well you must have had someone?”

Esme stayed quiet and unmoving for a while when she heard Carol whisper to her, “You’ve never been with anyone have you?”

She felt her eyes sting with tears of embarrassment as she slowly shook her head no once more.

All of them were speechless as Andrea laughed, “You’ve got to be joking right? You’re 22, you must have been with at least one guy in your life no matter how bad it might have been.”

Esme felt her throat constrict even more as she forced herself to speak, “It’s against my tradition to be with a man before I’m married.” They were all quiet as she finally looked up at all of them and could see the regret on Andrea’s face as she saw Esme’s eyes glistening with unshed tears, “I’ve never even kissed a man before. My parents were supposed to choose my husband for me and he would be the first and only one to teach me about sex, but we moved so much and my parents had very strict standards that they were never able to find anyone for me.” Esme took a shaky breath as she shook her head, “And now that the world has gone to shit I’ll never be able to marry anyone so I’ll never be able to be with anyone.”

Now Andrea started to get pissed, “Then why in the hell do you let Merle call you a slut? Doesn’t that piss you off!?”

“Of course, it does but it’s not like I want everyone in camp to know that I’m a virgin. Hell, it terrified and embarrassed me just to tell you four, and you’re women! There’s no way I would ever be able to let a man know about it. Besides, his opinion means less than shit to me. As far as I’m concerned he’s just an ignorant backwoods redneck that doesn’t know anything about any other culture and doesn’t care to know.”

Carol put her arm around Esme, “Don’t worry Esme, we promise we won’t let anyone know about what you told us. What happens at the quarry, stays at the quarry.” The other women nodded as the finished the laundry.

They gathered all the wet clothes into the baskets and took them back to camp to hang them up to dry.

When they were close enough to camp to see everyone else they heard the awful screeching of a car alarm. They panicked and rushed back to the camp as quickly as possible to see a red dodge challenger speeding up the dirt path before hitting the breaks and Glenn climbed out from the drivers side.

Shane and Amy rushed Glenn questioning about the group and Shane asking Glenn to pop the hood so he could turn the alarm off. Glenn was rushed with noise between the alarm and Amy before Shane started yelling and hitting the hood of the car “Pop the damn hood please!”

Glenn popped the hood of the car as Shane and Jim went to work to unplug the battery and search through for spare parts that could be used on the other vehicles.

Glenn began telling everyone about how everyone survived the supply run and that they were travelling behind him in another car, “Well Merle not so much.”

Esme’s blood ran cold. ‘Merle was dead?’ Daryl had left shortly after Merle to track and hunt for more meat for the camp. They may be cruel closed-minded assholes but they were the best hunters they had in camp. If they needed any meat they would always be able to provide something for everyone. Now that Merle was gone Esme knew Daryl would more than likely take his anger out on the camp. Possibly leave them up there to starve and fend for themselves.

Shane seemed pissed beyond belief, “You crazy driving this wailing bastard up here? You trying to draw every walker for miles?”

Dale tried to lighten the situation for Glenn, “I think we’re okay.”

“You calling being stupid okay?”

“Well an alarm like that one went all over these hills, hard to pinpoint the source.”

Shane gave him a stern look as Dale continued to speak, “I’m not arguing, I’m just saying.” He turned his words on Glenn next “It wouldn’t hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?”

Glenn held up his hands in defense, “Sorry.” He looked over to the car and back to Shane and Dale, “I got a cool car.”

The situation had seemed to calm down as another truck pulled in behind the car. Esme watched as everyone climbed out from the back of the truck, T-Dog, Morales, but no Merle just like Glenn said.

Esme continued watching the truck waiting to see who was driving since everyone else had been in the back. Shane was questioning Glenn about the new arrival until Morales called over to the truck, “Hey helicopter boy, come say hello.”

An officer stepped out of the truck with short dark hair and clean shaved face. He walked slowly towards everyone until she saw the look of realization on Shane’s face and heard Carl run yelling at him calling him dad. When Lori ran behind Carl, Esme knew that must have been her husband Rick. She had told them about him before one day while inspecting mushrooms for dinner. He had been in a coma and she was sure he was dead when everything happened. Esme smiled as he caught Carl full force in a tight hug and walked to Lori, hugging her tightly as well.

The spent the night listening to him tell them his experience of waking up into this new world that they had just barely become accustom to themselves. She sat back quietly and watched the flames in deep thought. If Rick had survived all this time, then maybe her family was still alive somewhere. She had come to terms that they were dead, but now she could feel her chest tighten with possibility.

Esme silently stood and walked away from the group to her tent. Today had been so tiring and emotionally draining. She felt exhausted and just wanted to rest for the night.

 

Esme was helping Carol take down the laundry and carrying baskets to Lori to fold when she heard Rick mention to Lori about going back to town to rescue Merle. Apparently, he had been handcuffed to one of the rooftops in town and left there by everyone else when T-Dog had dropped the key. He had wrapped a chain around the door and used a padlock to seal the door to keep the walkers from getting up to the roof. They knew he was still alive and Rick felt it was his job to rescue him from the roof.

Lori was in the middle of telling Rick why she felt he shouldn’t leave until they heard the kids screaming. Everyone ran to find the children, the men armed with guns and sharpened sticks. The children met them half way as the mothers caught their children into tight hugs and inspected them for bites or scratches to make sure they weren’t infected as the rest of the group continued to find out what had scared them.

Out of curiosity Esme continued walking forward to find a walker eating a deer that had two arrows stuck into it. She knew from the arrows that this had to be the deer Daryl was tracking and had shot. This walker had just been lucky enough to find it and stupid enough to eat it. If Daryl was around and found the walker first he would have killed it and beaten it slowly out of anger.

It seemed completely oblivious to everyone surrounding it as it continued to pull meat from the deer’s neck and eat. It wasn’t until the men had gotten closer to it that it realized there were more people around and stood up, groaning and yelling at the men before Rick swung the stick in his hand and cracked the walker in the face, causing it to fall to the ground. Everyone continued to beat it into the ground with sticks and pitch forks before Dale finally swung an axe down and cut the walkers head clean from its body.

They all stood back as Dale began speaking, “It’s the first one we’ve had up here. They never come this far up the mountain.”

Jim was next to speak, “Well they’re running out of food in the city, that’s what.” Everyone was still in shock at the discovery of a lone walker this far into the woods. They jumped and pointed their weapons as the trees and leaves started moving, indicated that something was coming towards them. They waited to see if it was another walker, and relaxed when Daryl came out of the woods carrying his crossbow.

The first thing he noticed was the deer and dead walker next to it. “Son of a bitch! That’s my deer!” He got closer to the deer, “Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disgusting, disease bearing, motherless, proxy bastard!” He kicked the walkers body with every hateful word.

Dale attempted to calm him, “Now calm down son, that’s not gonna help anything.”

“What do you know about it old man.”

He walked to get in Dale’s face as Shane pressed his gun against Daryl to stop him, “Why don’t you take that stupid old hat and go back to Old Golden Pond?” He walked back over to the deer and pulled one of his arrows from it, “I’ve been tracking this deer for miles. Was gonna drag it back to camp. Cook us up some venison. What do you think, we can cut around this chewed up part right here?”

Shane sighed, “I would not risk that.”

Daryl walked around the deer, “That’s a damn shame. Well I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That’ll have to do.”

Esme jumped back and gasped as the walker’s head opened its eyes and snapped its teeth. Amy and Andrea turned and went back to the camp.

Daryl looked at Esme, irritated by her reaction before casually pointing his crossbow at the head, “Come on people, what the hell?” He fired an arrow into the eye socket effectively killing the head. He walked over, placing his boot onto its forehead and pulling the arrow from the head, “It’s gotta be the brain. Don’t y’all know nothin’?”

He walked past the men, purposefully bumping her shoulder back as he walked past her into camp. Daryl Dixon hated everything there was about Esme. He couldn’t stand the sight of her, not even so much as eating any food that she touched. Him and his brother both saw her as filthy because of what she was. They felt that she meant less than the dirt they walked on. It was then that she realized she was glad Merle was gone, hoping that Daryl would leave her alone. He never tormented her as much as Merle had but he wasn’t going to stop his brother from anything he did as well. Esme now knew that nothing would change Daryl Dixon’s mind and she suddenly didn’t care if he stayed or left in the next five minutes.

Esme followed closely behind Daryl as he called for Merle, “Merle. Merle! Get ya ass out here! Got us some squirrel! Let’s stew ‘em up.”

 Shane called to him, “Daryl. Slow up a bit, I need to talk to you.”

Daryl stopped and turned, “About what?”

“About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta.”

Daryl grew warry as he looked around at everyone gathering around him. “Is he dead?”

“Not sure.”

“He either is or he ain’t!”

Rick walked up to them, “There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just say it.”

“Who are you?”

“Rick Grimes.”

“Rick Grimes? You got something you wanna tell me!”

“Your brother was a danger to us all. So, I handcuffed him to a roof hooked onto a piece of metal. He’s still there.”

Daryl rubbed his face as he turned around, his face slightly tinged red from anger, “Well, let me process this. You say you handcuffed my brother to a roof? And you left him there!?”

“Yea.”

Daryl took a few deep breathes as the anger built up until he threw the squirrels at Ricks head causing him to duck and Shane to tackle Daryl before he could lunge for Rick. Esme backed up slightly out of fear as he pulled his hunting knife from his belt and stood up once again staring Rick down. He swung the knife for Ricks throat as he leaned back away from it before he grabbed Daryl’s arm that was holding the knife and Shane ran behind Daryl and pulled him into a headlock. Rick snatched the knife from Daryl’s hand and threw it on the ground out of reach as Shane wrestled him back onto the ground, still in a headlock.

“You best let me go!”

“I think it’s better if I don’t”

“Chokeholdin’s illegal!”

“Well you can file a complaint.”

As Daryl slowly stopped struggling Rick leaned down towards his face to speak, “Now I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic, you think you can manage that?” Daryl was breathing heavily as Rick asked once more “You think we can manage that?”

Rick looked to Shane who nodded his head before throwing Daryl fully onto the ground and standing back up. “What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others.”

T-Dog finally decided to take the blame, “It’s not Rick’s fault. I had the key and I dropped it.”

“Couldn’t pick it up!?”

“I dropped it in a drain.”

Daryl finally pushed himself up off the ground, “If that’s supposed to make me feel better it don’t.”

“Maybe this will. I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn’t get at him. With a padlock.”

Rick spoke up next, “That’s gotta count for something.”

Everything seemed to register with Daryl as he sniffed lightly and rubbed his eyes, “To hell with all of y’all! Tell me where he is. So I can go get him.”

Lori answered, “He’ll show you. Isn’t that right?”

Rick looked around and nodded, “I’m going back.”

Lori turned around and walked into the RV followed by Amy and Andrea. Esme watched Daryl walk past Rick and pick up his crossbow. If he and Merle hadn’t been so hateful she could almost feel sorry for him. He was alone in this world except for Merle and now knew that his brother had been left for dead. Esme felt the sudden urge to say something to him, but that feeling was crushed by the glare Daryl had sent towards her. She knew in his mind he probably thought she had set the whole thing up somehow. He probably thought she had slept with Rick and T-Dog to arrange for Merle to be left behind. Esme glared back at Daryl with every ounce of anger she had within herself. He wanted to go look for his brother on a suicide mission in a city overrun by the undead. If he was stupid enough to do it then she wouldn’t feel sorry if they never came back. That goes for Merle and Daryl.

‘Who needs them because I sure as hell don’t.’


	2. Chapter 2

Esme watched Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog jump into the truck after Shane had given Rick four bullets to take with them into the city. There was no way they would be able to protect themselves for very long with just a few bullets and a crossbow. She was already preparing herself for the emotional distress from Lori and Carl should Rick be lost to the city.

Esme was helping Carol hang up the last of the laundry to dry when Amy and Andrea came back to the camp carrying at least a dozen fish along with Dale’s fishing gear. Everyone, including herself, were amazed to see how much fish they had caught and that for the first time in a while, they would have more than plenty of food to eat tonight. Amy handed the fish off to Morales who thanked her for catching enough fish that his children would have plenty to eat. Andrea passed off the praise, “Thank Dale. It’s his canoe and gear.”

Carl walked over and began poking the fish, “Mom look! Look at all the fish! Woah.”

Lori agreed with him, “Yea woah. Where did you two learn to do that?”

Amy, feeling pleased with herself happily answered, “Our dad.”

Carl asked, “Can you teach me how to do that?”

“Sure! We can teach you all about nail knots and stuff. If that’s okay?”

Lori shook her head, “You won’t catch me arguing.”

Andrea spoke to Dale as he walked back up to camp, “Hey Dale, when’s the last time you oiled those line reels? They are a disgrace.”

Dale had a much more serious look on his face and they could all feel the tension rolling off him, “I uh, I don’t want to alarm anyone. But, we may have a bit of a problem.” He looked over his shoulder and pointed up towards the hill and they could all see Jim at the top digging.

Sophia and Carl began questioning their mothers about why he was digging. What was he looking for? Was something wrong or was something going to happen?

Soon all of them were walking back up the hill with Dale to find out what was wrong with Jim. As they gathered in a group behind him, he didn’t even seem to acknowledge their existence. It was as if he was in a daze or trance and all he was focused on was digging. There were numerous holes dug around the area with nothing inside.

Shane stepped up to Jim and began trying to figure out what he was doing. “Hey Jim?” Shane waited for him to stop and look up but he continued to dig. “Why don’t you hold up, alright? Just for a second please.”

Jim sighed before standing up straight and turning towards all of them. “What do you want?”

“I’m just a little concerned man, that’s all.”

Morales added, “Dale said you’ve been out here for hours.”

Jim had a confused look on his face, “So?”

Shane took control of the conversation, “So, why are you digging? Are you heading to China?” Shane chuckled lightly at the joke, trying to lighten the mood and make Jim feel more secure in telling them what was wrong.

Jim remained stubborn though, “What does it matter? I’m not hurting anyone.”

Dale was more concerned for Jim’s health than his motives, “No, just hurting yourself, it’s a hundred degrees today. You can’t keep this up.”

“Sure I can. Watch me.” Jim continued digging.

Lori stepped up front, “Jim, they’re not gonna say it, so I will. You’re scaring people. You’re scaring my son, and Carol’s daughter.”

Jim stopped once more, huffing for air, “They got nothing to be scared of.” He looked and waited for them to leave and when they didn’t move he sighed, aggrevated, “What the hell people, I’m out here by myself, why don’t y’all just go and leave me the hell alone.”

He went back to digging once again, not even bothering to wait and see if they would leave. Shane stepped closer to Jim, “We think that maybe you need to take a break. Okay? Why don’t you go sit in the shade, eat some food? I’ll tell you what, maybe in a little bit, I’ll come out here and help you myself? Jim, just tell me what this is about. Why don’t you go ahead and give me that shovel?”

Suddenly Jim became defensive, “Or what?”

“There is no ‘or what’. I’m asking you, I’m coming to you and I’m asking you please. I don’t want to have to take it from you.”

“And if I don’t? Then what? Then you gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier aren’t you.” Shane looked down as Jim began speaking to the rest of them, “Y’all seen his face, or what’s left of it.” Jim leaned towards Shane, “See now that’s what happens to someone that crosses you.”

Shane’s face grew more serious, “That was different Jim.”

Amy tried to defend Shane, “You weren’t there. Ed was out of control, and he was hurting his wife.”

Jim slammed the tip of the shovels head deep into the ground and yelled, “That is their marriage! That is not his! He is not judge and jury. Who voted you king of us huh?”

Shane started walking to Jim and reached out, “I’m not here to argue with you. Now give me the shovel.”

Jim shook his head and pulled the shovel out of Shane’s reach behind him, “No, no, no.”

Jim pushed Shane back when he was too close and swung the shovel head at Shane. Shane ducked back as the shovel swung past him before lunging and tackling Jim to the ground. They started yelling at each other while Shane wrestled the shovel away from Jim and pinning him face down onto the ground. Jim’s eyes grew wide as if he were a trapped animal looking a people for the first time in his life.

Shane was pulling his handcuffs from his belt while repeating to Jim that they weren’t going to hurt him. Jim huffed a teary breath, “That’s a lie. That’s the biggest lie there is.” Shane secured the handcuffs onto Jim’s wrists as he continued speaking, “I told that same thing to my wife and my two boys. Must have said it a hundred times. It didn’t matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of them.” Everyone was shocked to hear this story since none of them had ever heard Jim’s story before. “They took them right out of my hands. The only reason that I got away was because the dead were too busy eating my family.” Jim sighed and closed his eyes in defeat while everyone began slowly walking back to the camp. Esme stayed in place with Dale watching Shane carefully help Jim to his feet and lead him back down the hill towards camp. Jim slowed to a stop in front of her and looked directly into her eyes, “Your eyes are like hers were. She was so scared; her eyes were so wide when that first hand grabbed her before a dozen more grabbed her. I hope I don’t have to relive seeing her death on your face.”

All she could do was stand in place and shake as Shane lead him away from me. Dale placed an arm around Esme’s shoulder to comfort her and help lead her back to camp as well. His story was so traumatic. She only hopped he was right and she didn’t suffer the same fate as his wife and children.

It had been a few hours since Shane had handcuffed Jim’s arms around a shaded tree and he seemed to be coming out of whatever trance he was in. Everyone assumed that he was hallucinating due to heat stroke from working so much in the sun. Shane walked over to Jim with a bucket and cup to check on him. “Jim, take some water.”

Jim nodded his head, “Alright.”

Shane smiled and dipped the cup into the bucket before lifting it to Jim’s mouth. Jim stared at Carl and Sophia as the cup touched his lips and he closed his eyes while drinking from the cup.

“Can you pour some on my head?”

“Yea.”

Jim sighed as the water cooled off his head and looked up at Shane, “How long are you gonna keep me like this?”

Shane looked up at Dale and looked back at Jim, “Well, until I think you’re no longer a danger to yourself, or others.”

Jim nodded his head and called out to Lori and Carol. “I’m sorry if I scared your boy. And your little girl.”

Lori shook her head, “You had sun stroke. Nobody’s blaming you.”

Jim began speaking to the kids. “You’re not scared, now are you?”

Sophia looked up, “No sir.”

Jim bit his bottom lip slightly before looking at Esme, ”I’m sorry for what I said Esme. I didn’t mean to scare you either with what I said.” She just nodded and smiled, still too shaken to speak to him.

Dale grew more serious, “Do you remember at all why you were digging?”

“I had a reason, I just don’t remember.” Dale nodded for Jim to continue, “Something I dreamt last night.”

Jim began speaking to Carl, “Your dad was in it. You were too, you were worried about him. Can’t remember the rest.” Carl just stared at Jim, “Are you worried about your dad?”

“They’re not back yet.”

Lori rubbed Carl’s arm and looked at Jim, “We don’t need to talk about that.”

“Your dad’s a police officer. He helps people probably just came across some folks needing help, that’s all. That man, he’s tough as nails. I don’t know him well, but, I can see it in him.” He looked up at Shane, “Am I right?”

Shane nodded, “Oh yea.

“There ain’t nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your momma. I promise you that.”

Shane nodded and picked up the bucket before turning back to walk away, “Alright, who wants to help me clean some fish?” Carl stood up and called Sophia to follow as they both ran after Shane with Lori calling for them both to stay near Dale. Esme walked with Carol and Lori to help prepare dinner as well. She wasn’t going to let anything ruin tonight. Tonight, they were going to celebrate and dine on a feast of fish. However, as she continued to try and talk herself out of her worried state, she couldn’t shake the feelings crawling up her spine. ‘What is this feeling?’          

Soon it was dark outside and they were all gathered around the fire eating fish and talking. Ed had isolated himself to his tent and refused to join them which was more than fine by her. Rick and the others hadn’t returned yet and Esme was losing faith that they ever would. Morales had placed more rocks around the fire pit to hide the flames so that the flames could be higher while still being hidden.

Everyone’s laughter died down as Morales began question Dale about his watch. “I see you every day winding that thing at the exact same time like a village priest saying mass.”

Jacqui added, “I’ve wondered this myself.”

Dale laughed, “I’m missing the point.”

Jacqui replied, “Unless I’ve misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while.”

Morales continued, “But there’s you every day winding that stupid watch.”

Dale smiled, “Time, it’s important to keep track, isn’t it? The days at least. Don’t you think, Andrea?” Andrea looked around and shook her head, “Back me up here.” Dale sighed and continued, “I like what um, a father said to his son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, ‘I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father’s before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.’”

Everyone was silent as Amy spoke, “You are so weird.”

Everyone started laughing as poor Dale tried to defend himself, “It’s not me, it’s Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing.”

Andrea was more alert when Amy stood up, “Where are you going?”

Amy tried to whisper, “I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here.” Everyone started laughing again and continued their conversations as Amy called to them from the RV, “We’re out of toilet paper?”

Everyone looked up just in time to see a walker step out from around the RV and grab Amy’s arm, biting a chunk of meat from her arm. Everyone screamed and jumped from their seats around the fire as more walkers surrounded them coming out of the woods. They began grabbing nearby survivors and dragging them down, eating them alive.

Andrea tried to run to Amy while Shane began firing at the walkers surround the RV. Jim and Morales were beating them back with bats while Esme tried to stay with Carol, Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Shane. Shane was calling for them all to follow him up the hill to the RV so that they would have something solid against their back and weren’t completely open.

Esme screamed as a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards away from Carol and she screamed, “Esme!” Shane was more focused on getting Lori and the rest up to the RV as the grotesque walker fell on top of her. Its teeth were snapping near her face as she tried to hold it off of her as long as I could. She could feel tears running down her face as she screamed, her arms beginning to shake from its weight. Esme heard more gunshots around them as Rick and the rest of the group ran up the trail and began killing off the walkers. Esme heard a gunshot near her and felt the walker go limp in her hands as someone grabbed her shoulders and pulled her from under it. She kicked her legs and reach back balling her fist into someone’s shirt as they pulled her up and she turned towards them, pushing her face into a man’s chest as the gunshots died down. Her whole body shook violently as more tears raced down her face and she let out a shaking sob for the first time. Whoever had saved her still had their arm tightly around her. Esme finally pulled herself from their shirt and was surprised to look up and see Daryl had been the one to save her. For a moment, she didn’t care who he was, she just needed to be held as her heart slowed down. He wasn’t looking at her at all but past her towards the RV. Esme turned to look over her shoulder and felt her chest tighten at the sight of Andrea crying and holding Amy’s body. She had been bitten in her neck and had bled out in Andrea’s arms. Esme turned her face back to Daryl’s chest to hide from the sight as Andrea’s screams made everyone quiet.

Jim looked around at everyone’s faces, “I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes.”


	3. Chapter 3

Esme squinted her eyes as the sun rose over the city. No one had gotten any rest at all last night after the attack. Everyone gathered the dead walkers and their dead friends. They piled the walkers together to burn and set out their friends to finish killing them before they could change. Esme worked with Carol wrapping the dead campers up while Daryl, Shane, and Rick used the pick axes and shovels to pierce their brains. Most of her hair had come out of the bun on her head and stuck to the back of her neck and hung down her back. She could feel the heat trapped in her hair burning her neck as sweat beaded across her face.

Andrea guarded Amy’s body and refused to let anyone touch her. Lori spoke to her, but it didn’t seem to faze her. When Rick tried to speak to her, she pulled her gun and pointed it at his face. No one bothered her much after that. Dale sat nearby and guarded them incase Amy turned and Andrea couldn’t kill her.

The smell of the burning decayed flesh made Esme sick and the smoke and ashes that filled the air made her skin feel dirty and dry. Her chest itched and she scratched furiously until she could feel her skin becoming raw. She couldn’t understand why it was only in one spot. Maybe a bug bite? When Carol walked away to get more sheets and rope, Esme turned slightly away from the group and pulled her shirt to the side. Her skin was red from scratching, but underneath she could see the raised indentations of nail marks over her heart that weren’t from her. She was scratched! Was it the walker from last night? It was the only instance Esme could think of being scratched by anything, but she felt fine? No fever, no aches or pains.

Esme was startled from her thoughts by Jacquie shouting, “A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!” She quickly pulled her shirt back into place over the marks as everyone began surrounding Jim. Jim was scared and kept repeating that he was okay.

Daryl snapped at him, “Show it to us!”

Jim quickly grabbed one of the shovels for protection as the men circled around him. Esme’s heart raced in her chest and she could feel the marks itching and burning more and more with each thump in her chest.

T-Dog quickly grabbed Jim’s arms from behind as Daryl rushed at him and snatched his shirt up revealing teeth marks deep in the side of his stomach. Jim seemed to be in shock after T-Dog let him go as he kept repeating, “I’m okay.”

Everyone stood in a circle while Jim sat near the camper. Daryl was the first to speak, “I say we put a pickaxe in his head, and the dead girls, and be done with it.”

Shane looked up at him, “Is that what you’d want if it were you?”

Daryl nodded, “Yeah, and I’d thank you while you did it.”

Dale shook his head, “I hate to say it. I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl’s right.”

Esme felt her blood run cold at his words. They had known Jim longer than her. If they found out there was a chance that she was scratched by a walker, then they more than likely wouldn’t hesitate or even discuss killing her.

Rick shook his head, “Jim’s not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog. He’s sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?”

Daryl immediately replied, “The line’s pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be.”

Rick continued, “What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure.”

Shane shook his head, “I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell.”

Rick continued, “What if the C.D.C is still up and running?”

Shane sighed, “Man, that is a stretch right there.”

Rick asked, “Why? If there’s any government left, any structure at all, they’d protect the C.D.C at all costs, wouldn’t they? I think it’s our best shot. Shelter, protection”

Shane cut him off, “Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they’re at the army base. Fort Benning.”

Lori joined in, “That’s a hundred miles in the opposite direction.”

Shane continued, “That is right. But it’s away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it’ll be heavily armed. We’d be safe there.”

Rick argued, “The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We’ve all seen that. The C.D.C is our best choice and Jim’s only chance.”

Daryl nodded his head and tightened his grip on the pickaxe, “You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do.” He took a few steps back before charging towards Jim and yelling, “Someone needs to have some balls and take care of this!”

Rick quickly put his gun to Daryl’s head, “We don’t kill the living.”

Shane stood in between Daryl and Jim as Daryl turned back towards Rick and spoke, “That’s funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head.”

Shane cut in, “We may disagree on some things, but not on this. You put it down. Go on.” Daryl threw the pickaxe down into the dirt before walking off.

They continued hauling bodies up the hill to bury and finishing off the campers as the last of the dead walkers burned to ash. Esme continued scratching her chest when no one was looking until she felt as if she was going to claw her skin off. She could feel wet spots and knew she had drawn blood in places from scratching, but the itching wouldn’t stop. Carol stepped away to take care of Ed herself, feeling that it was her responsibility, and that she needed to be the one to finish killing him. He looked nearly unrecognizable. He had gotten the worst of the attack, more than likely having been eaten by multiple walkers at once. Carol cried as she struck his head repeatedly with the pickaxe.

Esme glanced over when I heard Andrea speaking to Amy, and she could see Amy sitting up trying to bite Andrea’s face. She seemed weak and slow, probably since she had just woken up. She growled as Andrea pulled her gun out. “I love you.” With that, Andrea pulled the trigger and shot her in the head. Amy fell back to the ground with a thud.

Esme closed her eyes and sighed. There was so much loss around her. She looked around at everyone. Andrea lost her sister, Carol lost her husband, and even Daryl lost his brother. Daryl. She could feel a tingle down her back as she remembered last night. He had saved her. He pulled her from under the walker and held her up. She clung to him, and he didn’t push her away. But why? What was this feeling? Maybe embarrassment from holding onto the one person who hated her in this camp? Maybe she was just uncomfortable to have been held by a man in general? Esme glanced over at him again while he worked on the bodies. She felt as if she was seeing him for the first time now. He wasn’t ugly by any means. On first appearances, he seemed like someone she could be attracted to. His personality was the only thing that pushed her away. He had no emotions other than annoyance and anger, and he wasn’t the type to hold a friendly conversation. All he cared about was his survival. If it came down to it, he would probably leave the group without a care in the world. Esme shook her head and looked back at the ground in front of her. She shouldn’t be thinking about him. He’s an asshole and that’s something that will never change.

Once they finally wrapped up the last camper and placed them onto the back of the truck they started up the hill to help bury them. When they got up there, Daryl was arguing with Rick about rules and agreements about how to deal with the dead.

Rick snapped back at Daryl, “There are no rules!”

Lori cut in, “Well, that’s a problem. We haven’t had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. That’s what people do.”

They had all the bodies placed into graves and covered except for Amy. She was the last to go and Andrea wanted to be the one to do it. Everyone stood back as she dragged Amy to the grave before placing her down into it. Some were crying, but Esme couldn’t seem to find anymore tears to cry. Her emotions were haywire and her nerves were shot. All she could feel now was anger and remorse.

It wasn’t long before they had all decided to travel to the C.D.C. They were packing up things and preparing vehicles for the trip. Jim was in the RV, but he was getting worse by the minute. Esme rode in the RV with Dale, Glenn, and Jacquie. Morales and his family had left their group to travel to Birmingham to be with their family.

Esme could hear Jim groaning and yelling in the back as they drove. He was speaking nonsense and throwing up blood now. His fever had skyrocketed and he was regularly losing consciousness from the pain.

They honked the horn as the RV sputtered and began to slow down. The same hose from earlier was malfunctioning as steam poured from the radiator of the RV. Rick and Dale were talking up front trying to figure out a way to fix it as Jacquie ran out of the RV. She was panicking, “Y’all, Jim, it’s bad. I don’t think he can take anymore.” Shane and T-Dog drove ahead to find something to fix the RV with as Rick walked into the RV to speak with Jim.

Esme stood outside with everyone else and noticed Daryl walking back to his truck. Now was probably her only chance to thank him for saving her without the others around. She walked over to him as he fished around in his truck for something. “Daryl?”

He looked up at her and cringed, “What do you want?”

Esme felt her temper flair up but she pushed it back down, “I just wanted to thank you for saving me.”

He seemed surprised as he stopped looking in his truck before shutting the door and giving her his full attention, “What?”

Esme felt flustered as he stood quietly staring at her waiting for her to continue, “I said thank you for saving me from the walker last night. I know you hate me, and you didn’t have to, which is why I thought I should thank you.”

He seemed annoyed when he replied, “I never said I hated you. Besides, was I supposed to let you get your face chewed off by some dead bastard?”

Now she was genuinely confused, “Huh? If you don’t hate me then why are you always so hateful towards me?”

“I don’t know, just how I was raised I guess. My dad always said to watch your back around a gypsy and Meryl always said gypsy women were whores.”

Esme crossed her arms and sighed, “Well were not. At least I’m not like that.”

Daryl nodded before looking back into his truck, “Just watch your back next time. I might not be around to save your ass all the time.”

Esme smiled slightly before walking back to the group as Rick stepped out of the RV. He was telling them that Jim wanted them to leave him behind and let him die.

Carol questioned, “And he’s lucid?”

Rick replied, “He seems to be. I would say yes.”

Dale spoke next, “Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer.”

Shane and T-Dog had already returned and repaired the RV. Shane shook his head, “So what, we just leave him here and take off? Man, I’m not sure I could live with that.”

Lori joined in, “It’s not your call, either one of you.”

Shane and Rick carried Jim out of the RV and rested him against a tree. He leaned back against it as the breeze caressed his face. Everyone gathered around, asking if he needed anything that would make him more comfortable in his final hours. Rick offered him a pistol, but he turned it down saying they would need it more than him. One by one everyone said their goodbyes and offered him thanks for traveling with them.

Jim reached his hand out towards her, “Esme?” She slowly walked up to him as he stared into her eyes, “You remind me so much of her. Please, survive. For me?” She nodded as she held his hand tightly. He smiled as he slowly released his grip on her hand. They all slowly returned to their vehicles before continuing their journey to the C.D.C.

When they finally arrived, there were bodies piled everywhere, rotting in the sun. Flies buzzed everywhere as the sun was slowly beginning to set. The smell was worse than anything she could ever imagine. They had their weapons drawn in case anything began moving as they approached the steel doors of the building. Shane and Rick attempted to open the doors as it grew darker. There were no signs of anyone being inside.

Everyone began panicking as Daryl shouted, “Walker!” He shot it through the head with an arrow as more began rising from the piles. Everyone began turning against Rick quickly, the only ones defending him were Shane and Lori. We were stuck inside of a walking graveyard, our only hope leading to a dead end.

Rick continued to bang on the doors and shout, claiming he had seen the surveillance camera moving. “I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. Please, we’re desperate. Please help us! We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left. We have nowhere else to go, please!” Everyone was scrambling to stay together and get away at the same time. No one knew where to go or what to do. Rick continued to bang on the doors as Shane began dragging him away, “You’re killing us! You’re killing us!” We heard gears and metal sliding as the doors opened. We were going to live!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally made it through Season 1!

Esme’s eyes were nearly shut as the blinding light showered over all of them. She felt her heart pound painfully against her chest as relief flooded her body. They were going to survive another night.

Everything was out of focus as Shane and Rick began giving orders out to everyone and ushering the rest inside as quickly and quietly as possible. There were already enough walkers behind them, they didn’t want to alert anymore.

The center was huge and spacious, but most of all silent. Where were the doctors and scientists who were supposed to be researching all of this? Perhaps they were further inside? After all someone had to be here to open the doors.

Everyone rushed inside and spread out to search for any threats that may be waiting inside. Rick called out for anyone to reply and was greeted by a gun cocking. They all looked to see a single man standing with a shot gun pointed at them. He was obviously outnumbered and outgunned but he seemed like he was willing to try to attack if provoked.

The mystery man called out to them “Anybody infected?”

Rick replied, “One of our group was. He didn’t make it.”

Esme felt a chill settle over her skin as she remembered the mark on her chest. This man seemed like he wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet through her head if he thought there was a possibility she was infected.

The man walked closer to them, “Why are you here? What do you want?”

Rick’s voice was shaking as he replied, “A chance.”

The man seemed skeptical, “That’s asking an awful lot these days.”

Rick nodded his head in agreement, “I know.”

The man searched between all of them, probably trying to read their faces for any glimpse of deceit. He stepped closer before speaking, “You all submit to a blood test. That’s the price of admission.”

Rick nodded, “We can do that.”

Esme felt the chills from earlier seep into her bones. Would the scratch alter her blood? Was that even possible? She felt fine, nothing like the way Jim had reacted, although he was bitten. Perhaps there were different reactions between a scratch and a bite?

The man lowered his gun, “You got stuff to bring in you do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed.”

Rick, Shane, Daryl, and T-Dog rushed to bring in as much stuff as possible while Dale stood guard at the door with his rifle. As soon as the last man was inside, the doors were pulled shut and the man keyed in a code that sealed the doors as well. He ordered someone named Vi to turn off all power at the entrance part of the building. Esme watched as the metal doors slide down into place over the glass doors, securely locking them into the building and locking out any unwanted guests.

They introduced themselves to the man who she now knew as Dr. Edwin Jenner. They were soon all crammed tightly into an elevator heading down below the main building into an underground bunker area.

Daryl was the first to break the awkward silence, “Doctors always go around packing heat like that?”

Edwin turned back to reply, “There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself.” He looked over their group once more, “But you look harmless enough.” He looked down at Carl, “Except you. I’ll have to keep my eye on you.” Carl gave a small smile in response to the poor joke. It was nice to meet someone attempting to even make jokes during this world-wide crisis.

Soon they were being led down a long hallway by Dr. Jenner as he began to explain the procedures around the area. “Vi, bring up the lights in the big room.” As soon as the words left his lips the room lit up automatically. He turned back slightly towards them, “Welcome to Zone 5.”

Rick asked, “Where is everybody? The other doctors? The staff?”

Edwin replied, “I’m it. It’s just me here.”

Lori responded, “What about the person you’re speaking with? Vi?”

Edwin replied, “Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them, welcome.”

Suddenly a loud automated voice appeared over the speakers, “Hello guests. Welcome.”

Edwin replied, “I’m all that’s left. I’m sorry.”

Soon they were all seated around on the floor as Edwin drew blood from all of them. Andrea was the last one of them and she seemed to have the worst effect of everyone as she seemed weaker when she stood.

Edwin asked what was wrong only for Jacqui to reply, “She hasn’t eaten in days. None of us have.”

It wasn’t long that they were all sitting around eating and drinking. Everyone was laughing and telling stories from before everything happened. Edwin sat back from the table, just observing them. She sipped on her third glass of wine and began feeling the effects quickly.

Dale poured a little bit into a small glass for Carl while both Dale and Rick tried convincing Lori to allow him a taste. “What’s it gonna hurt? Come on.”

Lori gave up and they all watched and laughed as Carl took a sip only for his face to scrunch in disgust. Lori took the cup and poured it into her glass. Everyone’s stories seemed to mash together as she zoned out. Esme looked across the table at Daryl, drinking wine straight from the bottle itself. He obviously could hold his liquor well enough as he had already downed almost half the bottle by himself and still seemed perfectly coherent. Esme felt her face warm up slightly as her eyes trailed lower. He may be a backwoods brute, but his body was built for sin itself. His broad shoulders placed perfectly atop an equally broad chest and toned arms most likely built from carrying his crossbow and so many animals he had hunted. His legs were long and she could only guess were just as muscled as his arms from walking and tracking for days at a time.

Esme quickly felt herself jerk back to reality as she realized her own thoughts. She pushed half full glass to the side as she knew she had one too many so far if she was fantasizing about him.

Shane noticed her and asked, “What’s wrong Esme? Drink a little too much?”

Esme nodded slightly and felt her cheeks burn slightly from the alcohol and from embarrassment. “I don’t normally drink more than a glass on special occasions with my family, and I haven’t drunk anything since I was separated from them.”

Her response seemed to have drawn some attention as Lori asked, “You know, we don’t really know much about your family since you weren’t from around here. You have any stories?”

Esme smiled as memories flooded her mind of her mother and father. “My father was a very kind man. We travelled a lot so he could work, and he worked very hard. Sometimes he would work 12 hours a day and could barely walk up the steps at night. My mother would have to help him, especially when he got older. He wanted us to have everything we would need in life.”

Lori smiled and grabbed Ricks hand under the table, “He sounds like a very good person. What about your mom?”

She smiled, “My mom was kind hearted as well but she was very strict in her ways. She was a gypsy wife, born and raised. She believed as most women do, that a good wife must keep a clean home and keep her husband well fed and her children loved and cared for. All she knew was how to be a house wife. She raised me the same as she was, that I would need to clean and cook, and I did. I always wanted more for my life though, but I still wanted to one day have a husband and children of my own.”

Esme could see everyone smiling as they reminisced of their own families. Lori hugged Carl to her side as she stared at Rick with so much love in her eyes. Esme glanced over to Daryl to notice him staring at her. Once he knew she had caught him he broke his gaze and took a long drink from the wine bottle in his hand. The look in his eye? Why did he seem so tense? Angry even?

Esme was drawn from her thoughts as Rick clinked his fork to his glass and stood. “It seems to me we haven’t thanked our host properly.”

T-Dog lifted his glass, “He is more than just our host.”

Everyone lifted their glasses, shouting thanks to Edwin. He lifted his glass as well but only halfheartedly.

Soon Shane began questioning Edwin, “So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?” Edwin’s mood seemed to somber some as Shane continued, “All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?”

Rick tried to cut in, “We’re celebrating, Shane. Don’t need to do this now.”

Shane cut back, “Whoa, wait a second. This is why we’re here, right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, we found him. Found one man. Why?”

No one could believe Shane’s attitude right now, but Edwin answered anyway, “Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted.”

Shane questioned further, “Every last one?”

Edwin continued, “No, many couldn’t face walking out the door. They, ‘opted out’. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time.”

Andrea joined in, “You didn’t leave? Why?”

Edwin replied, “I just kept working, hoping to do some good.”

Glenn looked a Shane, “You are such a buzzkill man.”

After dinner, Edwin began showing everyone to their own rooms. He explained about how the power was being reserved so they needed to save power as much as possible by shutting off any unnecessary lights. Esme could see everyone, along with herself, grow excited at the mention of a shower.

She set her bags down in her room and took time collecting the cleanest items she could find as she prepared to take her shower. They all had to share the bathroom down the hall so they took turns rotating out who got to shower and who took one next. Esme was third in line after Rick and Lori who decided to shower together to “save water”.

Esme sighed as the warm water covered her scalp and poured down her face and body. She couldn’t remember the last time she had truly been clean, as the only bathing that they could manage now was washing off in a lake or stream they found along the way. She smiled as the smell of the shampoo and soap filled her nose. It was almost enough to clear her mind from the events around her.

Esme felt her chest clench and recoiled as the water hit the wound on her chest. She turned her back to the shower head as she looked down and ran her fingers over where she had been scratched. The skin was no longer red or warm, but a mark had taken its place in her flesh. It seemed as if she had been branded with an iron as the black mark sunk into her skin in a strange pattern she didn’t recognize. Esme quickly finished her shower so she could view herself properly in the mirror.

The lines in her skin were thin, as if it had been tattooed onto her chest. Instead of ink, the skin looked as if it had been burned and the lines were deep in her chest. Running her fingers over the mark she could feel the rise and fall of skin. It resembled something that only the grim reaper himself would leave on a body. She still felt fine, no fever, no sickness, not even an ache in her muscle.

Esme was quickly drawn from her thoughts when someone knocked on the door, quickly followed by a male voice, “You almost done in there? I heard the water turn off.”

She sighed as she quickly dried herself and dressed in an old thin T-shirt and some shorts. She unlocked the door and opened it to come face to face with Daryl. “Sorry, too much to drink, had some trouble getting dressed.”

Daryl looked her over once and chuckled. She must have seemed genuinely surprised because he looked curious now, “What’s so funny?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just let me shower.”

Esme nodded and slipped past him, briefly pressing her breasts to his chest through the tight doorway. For a second it felt as if his hand ghosted past her hips as she turned and walked down the hall towards her room. Esme could hear him grunt something incoherently and she was too nervous to ask what he said.

As she shut the door tightly behind her, she pressed her back to the door and slid down slowly. Whatever this mark was it made her body incredibly sensitive, even to touches near her body. Esme closed her eyes and could still feel the contours of his chest against hers, as if in slow motion. She was suddenly racked with a wave of lust and wanting, only to be brought out of it when her own hands touched the tops of her thighs. Esme jerked her hands away as if she were burned by her own skin. What was she doing? Was she really about to touch herself just from the thought of Daryl Dixon? It had to have been the wine pushing her to do this. She had heard that alcohol could increase a persons libido while also inebriating their common senses. That had to be the only logical answer to this. If there was one at this point. Esme quickly pulled herself from the floor, locking her door just in case, and quickly laid down on the makeshift bed which consisted of blankets and a pillow on a couch. Anything was more comfortable than the hard ground and she quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

Esme pulled a robe tightly over herself as she made her way to the rec room down the hall where everyone was having breakfast courtesy of T-Dog. It was a rather traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon along with juice or coffee but it was the best food she had tasted in months. Everyone seemed sluggish and hungover from the drinks, although she felt perfectly fine. More energetic and well rested than ever in her life.

Everyone was alerted when Edwin entered greeting them all with a tired “Good morning.”

Everyone gave the same greeting in response except for Dale who continued speaking, “Doctor, I don’t mean to slam you with questions first thing.”

Edwin cut in, “But you will anyway.”

Andrea continued, “We didn’t come here for the eggs.”

Soon after breakfast, Edwin brought everyone back to the big room to show them something he had recorded on the monitor. He typed something into a computer, “Give me a playback of TS-19.”

Vi responded by pulling up the footage on the main monitor. They all watched as he pulled up an image of a human brain along with a computer model of someone’s face. “Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few.”

Carl questioned, “Is that a brain.”

“An extraordinary one. Not that it all matters in the end.” Edwin turned his attention back to the screen, “Take us in for E.I.V.”

Everyone watched as the screen zoomed in on the brain itself as the lights fired through the nerves of the organ.

Shane asked, “What are those lights?”

Edwin responded, “It’s a person’s life. Experiences, memories. It’s everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique. And human.” He continues to explain the lights until a phrase catches Ricks attention. “They determine everything a person say, does, or thinks from the moment of birth, to the moment of death.”

Rick stepped forward, “Death? That’s what this is? A vigil?”

“Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil.”

Andrea stepped forward, “This person died? Who?”

“Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process.” Edwin concentrated on the monitor, “Vi scan forward to the first event.”

“Scanning to first event.”

Soon the screen changed and the view was back to the outside of the head looking through into the brain. This brain was different though, half of the brain had gone completely dark and the darkness was slowly spreading throughout the brain.

Glenn questioned, “What is that?”

Edwin explained, “It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or will be, gone.”

Sophia questioned her mother, “Is that what happened to Jim?”

Carol nodded, “Yes.”

Everyone around the room was somber and some had tears on their face. Edwin seemed confused until Lori explained, “She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister.”

Edwin leaned forward, “I lost somebody too, I know how devastating it is.” Edwin turned and stepped back up towards the monitor, “Scan to the second event.” As the screen jumped forward, Edwin continued to explain, “The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven second.” Soon new lights sparked inside of the brain, but these were completely different. The previous lights were white and bright, these were red and dark.

Lori questioned, “It restarts the brain?”

“No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving.”

Rick asked, “But they’re not alive?”

Edwin asked, “You tell me.”

Rick focused on the screen, “It’s nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark.”

Edwin continued, “Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part. That doesn’t come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct.”

Suddenly something shot across screen, tearing through parts of the brain.” Carol questioned, “God. What was that?”

Andrea responded, “He shot his patient in the head. Didn’t you?”

Edwin ignored the question as he spoke, “Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations.” They all stood around, shocked by what they had seen.

Andrea continued to question the doctor, “You have no idea what it is, do you?”

Edwin answered, “It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal.”

Jacqui cut in, “Or the wrath of God?”

Edwin replied, “There is that.”

Andrea continued, “Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere.”

Carol asked, “There are others, right? Other facilities?”

Edwin responded, “There may be some. People like me.”

Rick replied, “But you don’t know? How can you not know?”

Edwin replied, “Everything went down. Communications, directives, all of it. I’ve been in the dark for almost a month.”

Andrea cut in, “So it’s not just here. There’s nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That’s what you’re really saying, right?”

Daryl began walking off with his hands on his face, “Man, I’m gonna get shitfaced drunk again.”

Dale continued, “Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but, that clock, it’s counting down. What happens at zero?”

Edwin replied, “The basement generators, they run out of fuel.”

Rick continued, “And then?” Edwin began walking off so Rick asked Vi. “Vi, what happens when the power runs out?”

“When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur.” Esme’s whole body ran cold. Decontamination?

It wasn’t long before Rick, Shane, T-Dog, and Glenn went to explore the basement to see what was really going to happen. Edwin had gone off somewhere and refused to speak to anyone at this point.

Soon everyone was walking to the main room as the lights and turned off in everyone’s room. Everyone was following Edwin, questioning him as they went, him continuing to ignore everyone’s questions.

Rick and his team ran out from the basement entrance as they walked down the steps. Rick approached Edwin and asked, “Jenner, what’s happening?”

Edwin finally replied, “The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It’s designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark.” Edwin pointed to the clock on the wall, “Right on schedule.” Edwin took a gulp from a bottle before handing it to Daryl and continuing to speak, “It was the French.”

“What?”

“They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution.”

“What happened?”

Edwin replied, “The same thing that’s happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?”

As Edwin continued walking towards the clock, Rick began ordering everyone to gather their things and leave. Everyone began running in the direction of their rooms as an alarm began blaring through the building. Everyone stopped as Vi announced they only had 30 minutes left.

Shane began yelling and pushing everyone out of their trance to continue grabbing their stuff so they could leave. Everyone ran towards the door as it slid shut, locking them into the room.

Everyone began running back as Daryl raced towards Edwin, intent on beating the doctor within an inch of his life. Rick shouted for Shane to stop him as everyone rushed him to pull him from the doctor.

Rick approached Edwin, “Hey, Jenner, open that door now.”

Edwin replied, “There’s no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed.”

“Well open the damn things!”

Edwin sighed, “That’s not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn’t open again. You heard me say that.” Everyone held their loved ones or friends as Esme stood off alone. She looked up at Daryl to see him looking back at her. She could hear Edwin continue speaking, “It’s better this way.”

Rick argued, “What is? What happens in 28 minutes?” Rick rushed forward and repeated, “What happens in 28 minutes?!”

Edwin stood up, “You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don’t want getting out! Ever!” Everyone stood silent as Edwin sat down and calmly continued, “In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out.”

Rick questioned, “H.I.T.s?”

Edwin looked down, “Vi, define.”

Vi responded, “H.I.T.s, high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.”

Edwin translated, “It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything.”

Daryl threw the bottle at the door and screamed, “Open the damn door!”

Shane grabbed the emergency axe and ran towards the door, swinging the axe against the cold steel. Soon Daryl grabbed one as well and both began chopping at the door.

Edwin began speaking, “You should have left well enough alone. It would’ve been so much easier.”

Andrea replied, “Easier for who!?”

Edwin answered, “All of you. You know what’s out there, a short, brutal life and an agonizing death.” He looked at Andrea, “Your, your sister, what was her name?”

Andrea replied, “Amy.”

Edwin continued, “Amy. You know what this does. You’ve seen it.” Edwin turned his attention to Rick, “Is that really what you want for your wife and son?”

Rick answered, “I don’t want _this_!”

Shane was gasping for breath, “Can’t make a dent.”

Edwin replied, “Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher.”

Daryl rushed down wielding the axe, “Well, your head ain’t!”

Everyone rushed to stop Daryl and took the axe from his hands.

Edwin continued, “You _do_ want this. Last night, you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead.”

Lori looked shocked as she stared at Rick for an explanation. Shane intervened, “What? You really said that? After all your big talk?”

Rick looked at Lori, “I had to keep hope alive, didn’t I?”

Edwin continued, “There is no hope. There never was.”

Rick argued, “There’s always hope. Maybe it won’t be you, maybe not here. But somebody somewhere!”

Andrea cut in, “What part of ‘everything is gone’ do you not understand?”

Edwin continued, “Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event.”

Carol finally spoke, tears running down her face, “This isn’t right. You can’t just keep us here.”

Edwin leaned forward, “One tiny moment. A millisecond. No pain.”

Carol cried, “My daughter doesn’t deserve to die like this!”

Edwin continued, “Wouldn’t it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?”

Esme felt tears run down her own face as Shane cocked a shot gun and walked to Edwin. He pushed Rick to the side and pointed the gun in Edwin’s face, “Open that door or I’m gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!”

Rick tried to reason with him, “Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here.”

Lori agreed, “Shane, you listen to him.”

Shane argued, “It’s too late.”

Rick continued, “He dies, we all die!”

Shane screamed as Rick pushed him, the gun went off, blowing the screen out of one of the monitors. Shane continued blowing the monitors out one by one as everyone covered their heads. Esme kneeled as glass flew over her and everyone else.

Rick wrestled the gun from Shane and used it to knock him to the ground. Rick stood over Shane, “Are you done now? Are you done?”

Shane replied with a dark look over his face, “Yeah, I guess we all are.” Both men were breathing heavily as Rick stepped away from him and handed the gun over to T-Dog. Now it was their turn, they all stood, panicked and wide eyed, waiting for something to happen. Someone to do something to convince him to open the door.

At this point it seemed that no one could convince him to open the door. They were all going to die right there. Esme looked over at the clock to see they only had about 12 minutes left before everything went to shit. She covered her face with her hands out of anger and paranoia, slowly wiping her hands down her face before turning her gaze over to the doctor himself. Her ears were filled with silence, except for the two mothers holding their children for dear life. She felt her chest burn slightly, as if a match had been lit directly over the mark on her chest. Esme felt as if she could suddenly hear harsh winds blowing directly into her ears as she just stared at him, silently demanding him to open the door and give them their slim chance of survival. In a split-second Edwin stood and walked over to a different monitor, swiping his badger over a machine. Once his code was keyed in, the doors slid open and he spoke one last time, “The doors topside are still locked, I can’t open those.”

As soon as the doors slid down, all the noise calmed and became normal as everyone rushed for the doors. Jacqui and Andrea were the only ones hesitant as Glenn screamed, “We’ve only got 4 minutes left!”

T-Dog dragged Jacqui up only to have her scream that she wanted to stay. “That’s insane!”

Jacqui shook her head and stepped back, “No, it’s completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I’m not ending up like Jim and Amy. There’s no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out.” It stung a bit to know that Jacqui would rather stay and die than to try and stay with them, but Esme understood her reasoning as well.

She turned and ran up the stairs to hear Andrea agree that she wanted to stay as well. Dale waved for them to go ahead as he stayed behind with her.

They ran up the stairs, some taking them two at a time, as they raced to get to the top before the clock hit zero. When they got to the doors everyone began beating on the doors and windows to try and break them to get out. They weren’t even scratching the glass. They made it all this way just to end here. Shane loaded the shot gun and began firing shots, one and another, into the glass window.

Carol ran up to Rick carrying her bag, “Rick, I have something that might help.” Rick stepped over to her, “Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket.” She pulled a grenade from her bag and handed it to him. As soon as Rick took it from her everyone ran back as he ran to the window. Esme could hear the pin being pulled along with the click of the trigger on it as Rick ran back quickly shouting, “Oh shit!” She laid on the ground and felt arms over her head along with her own when the explosion went off and glass rained over everyone. Esme could feel her skin being pricked by small cuts, and her ears rang horribly from the sound of the explosion.

The person on top of her pulled her up quickly, grabbing her upper arm and pulling her as quickly as possible behind them and from the building.

They ran quickly, Shane and Rick picking of the few walkers that were in front of them as they all ran for the cars. She was pulled past the RV and into one of the trucks in the back. Esme was breathing heavily as she was finally able to see who pulled her.

Esme sighed and smiled, “Should’ve known it’d be you.”

Daryl looked at her from the driver’s side as he placed his crossbow in between them. “So? You got a problem with me helping you?”

Esme shook her head, “None what so ever.” She looked back towards the building and put her hand on his shoulder, shaking excitedly, “They’re coming out!”

Daryl leaned over towards her side to see from her view, “Who?”

“Dale and Andrea!” Esme felt her heart racing painfully as she watched them run across the yard. The building had less than a minute before it would explode and it didn’t seem like they were going to get to them in time. Rick honked the horn shouting for them to duck behind something as everyone laid down in their cars to avoid the wave of the blast. Daryl and her both laid their heads down as the building ignited and blew everything sky high.

After the shockwave passed, they all sat up to see the damage. The entire building was nothing more than a flaming pile of concrete, all the grass and trees burned in the explosion as well. What was once a sanctuary now resembled the rest of the city. Burned and broken. Thankfully Dale and Andrea survived as they ran to the RV and climbed inside. Esme looked at Daryl to see him looking back at her, both of them breathing heavily.

They heard the other engines start up and she looked to Daryl for an answer or demand as he started the engine in his truck as well. As everyone in front of them began pulling off, Daryl drove as well, along with her still sitting in the truck with him. Esme looked out the window as he focused on the road, the wind blowing a few stray hairs from the bun on her head. She smiled slightly to herself. After everything that had happened, Daryl had saved her and helped her once again. Perhaps now she could even consider him a friend?


End file.
